between paris and san francisco. i have -- charlotte was a sweet person, she reminded me i was old and i was in paris now for 11 years, i had the opportunity to work with my great friend, thanks to tom horn, that's in the [inaudible] that this working relationship and eternal relationship with tom, so with the team amongst mr. lee, i could understand that the relationship between san francisco and paris is not just a friendship, it could be a very efficient relationship and i will have the pleasure tomorrow to visit various places where there's a common dynamic

between paris and san francisco have made innovations, technology and the spirit of enterprise and all those elements together enable a concrete relationship between paris and san francisco and even remember it last time, with had a virtual highway between san francisco and paris, we started this virtual highway, it had a lot of babies and a lot of [inaudible] in paris and in san francisco was created, were developed from this common belief that we had in innovation, in research and with the need of building economic development on new technology, on new ways of living and creating wealth and progress of the 21st century.

and it's in this spirit that with [inaudible] that i'm happy to salute with all my friendship, we are going to start a new period of our links, our ties, mayor lee is a very popular man, a very popular mayor and i want to know first the reputation of the people of san francisco through him and through his progress. we have another common link, we believe that innovation can be noble if it starts many the people, so from the intervention of people in the democracy, a dynamic democracy, of course with new cooperation, new act of cooperation, first of all, there's always innovation [inaudible] of

working in a smart and efficient way. we work together on the program as smart cities where we want san francisco -- other cities to be modern cities but also civilized cities which means that consider that everything we wish for as far as economic development is concerned must consider the environment also, and the quality of the planet on which we live. with mr. lee, we talked about all these questions and of course we are going encourage all of these new companies and everything that enables us to improve our cities and make them a better place to live and less polluted place to live, as

may it in transportation, management of energy, in san francisco and in paris, there are innovations that are certainly ahead of many other cities in the world and i want to learn from san francisco and of course paris is there for the san francisco team, may it be a development of electric transportation or automobiles or [inaudible] or the reuse of energy of heat to heat private buildings or public building by using waste water, i explained to mayor lee that a couple of years now, i worked with bill clinton on the isolation of public buildings and

specifically schools so that every year, we could renovate 100 schools in paris and the children are in heated rooms but where we don't waste energy. these are subjects on which we have a lot of common ambition and where we'd like to exchange our dynamic efforts between san francisco and paris. but what would be a cooperation between san francisco and paris without culture? in san francisco, there's so much talent, so much genius, so much creation of cultural events that i want to open my doors of paris to them, [inaudible] that's an emblem that i created for the creative arts that come from new technology, i know there are

fwraet creators in music and classic art, they are home in paris, that is where i will welcome them. you have beautiful dancers and the director of the [inaudible] is here with us today, there are dancers from san francisco that i would love to welcome at the [inaudible] vil in paris, but we too, we have talent, we have some talent, we have a lot of passion for artistic creation so it may be in music and theatre and painting, we are ready to share a lot here in san francisco and i'm happy to have my trip be with the first visit of a french company in the united states, the great

artist had its head in [inaudible] that was in los angeles a couple of days ago, will be in berkeley tomorrow and then after that in new york of course, so there you are, that is how we are civilized together, how we are human beings that try to push ahead san francisco, paris, two cities that are destined to understand everything and do the maximum understanding because san francisco and paris believe in progress, know that it's difficult that progress of a factor of human development, we don't want to forget anybody, we want to shoulder each other, help each other so that the two cities, san

francisco and paris be the most attractive cities in the world but also the most smiling cities in the world, the most -- the cities that are worth your affection and that express to the rest of the world their taste of friendship, fraternity, friendship and for that we have to be together, we have to wan -- want to draoe yait toing and we want to make sure that this memorandum of understanding, this understanding between paris and san francisco be a final way of saying to each other it's happiness to live in both san francisco and paris together. thank you very much.

[applause]. >> my presence to san francisco is maybe not as symbolic as the golden gate. i done have with me works of art that express when the banks of the san river won't have anymore cars that i started recently, but parisian artists know how to do things that we like a lot, so this is an object that is very symbolic of paris for you. [applause].

>> so, there's little christo and bakarage. >> what's wrong? what's wrong? >> [inaudible]. >> he's not happy? what's going on? >> how beautiful. i'm going to put your picture in it. beautiful. >> thank you, mayor. isn't the french language absolutely so exciting, but maybe because it's coming out of the mouth of this wonderful

mayor. and i always thought we were great but didn't he make us sound great? even better? and i do see that we have the fire chief here in case, you know, we have had an earthquake and fire, so we brought the chief, chief haze in, and also a former first lady, gina miskony, gina, she's right behind the photographer, her husband was mayor and his portrait is right up here. so, we're coming to the signing, more important, of the signing, but tom horn is the one as been said has been leading us, in fact, we had to put a leash on him and we have him guarded at the airport with security guards because he would be on that air france airplane almost every day if we let him so we won't let him go

because he does a wonderful job, he'll present a few words and then i'll present the mayor to signs the forof understanding, may i present tom horn. >> (speaking french). mayor lee, council general, we commemorate today the 16th anniversary of our sister city of cord signed in san francisco in 1976. during this period, we have twice received official visits of the mayor of paris and paris has received three different

mayors of san francisco. and each visit has led to projects and agreements between our two cities that have been beneficial and advantageous to each. there is even one exchange in the field of fashion wean the academy of art and university and the most famous fashion schools in paris that begin at the beginning of our relationship and continue stronger than ever today. gladys pamer, the director of

the department of fashion, gladys pamer, our sister city committee member is here today, we have worked closely in the area of public transit, thank tos you, mr. mayor, the urban furniture that you showed us in paris now exists throughout san francisco, whether it be the bus stops, public toilets or the french kiosks used to distribute newspapers or other products.

thanks to our relationship, we saw for the first time a successful bike share program and i still have my cart delebre that you gave each of us on our visit to paris. [laughter]. >> and i remember fondly sort of, my first [inaudible] that day in suit and tie with mayor newsom in pouring rain in paris

in front of city hall. like you in san francisco, reduction of pollutants and greenhouse gases is a priority. you've seen how bicycle lanes throughout san francisco, even on our famous hills and after too long a delay, we ant pate launching our bike share program in 2013. our two cities have been in the forefront.in the fields of high-tech and digital media.

digital sister cities. on your last visit in 2006 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of our partnership, we signed an accord being digital sister cities. this accord has facilitated numerous parisian company ins establishing companies in san francisco such as parisoma which we will visit tomorrow.

and we see companies based in san francisco that create branches in paris such as soef fee nova whose ceo, a member of the city sister committee is with us today. there are many other examples of successful and flourishing business and commercial relations between our two cities, an atmosphere made part in possible due to the close working relationship between our two close municipalities. finally, as each of the mayors before me, i must comment on the world of art and culture of which san francisco and paris are two world capitals.

our cultural exchanges are often, live the highest quality. many san francisco cultural institutions of every size perform frequently in paris. san francisco's symphony presents every year in paris and the new president of their board of directors is here

today, so also deshanty clear, a smaller men's choral group, a member of our committee is here today as well. and parisian artists are often in san francisco in the region and they're always warmly welcomed. at this very moment as the mayor said earl ye, we are pleased to welcome to the bay area e man yell, director of st vil de la paris who will be presenting tomorrow the and the

next niekt the masterpiece of the absurd rhinoceros. the ties between our two cities are strong, now with this new agreement, we assure they will continue and remain strong and beneficial for the great cities of paris and san francisco. [applause]. >> do you think he interpreted himself well? so, you can see why he is our chairman, now the moment has come, mayors, to sign the memorandum of understanding. yes, sign it.

[applause]. (next event).